The 2024 NBA All-Star weekend in Indy was interesting, to say the least. We saw familiar faces like LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and fresh faces like Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Just in case you missed it, we got you covered. Here’s a complete recap of all the events from the 2024 NBA All-Star weekend.
Celebrity All-Star Game: Team Shannon beats Team Stephen A. 100-91
Micah Parsons was unstoppable for Team Shannon, as his 37 points and 16 rebounds led the way. Actor, Dylan Wong, tossed in another 18, and rookie sensation Puka Nacua showed off his dunking ability and finished with 16 points.
For Team Stephen A. it was NFL rookie of the year CJ Stroud leading the way with 31 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. YouTube star Triston Jass also had 27 points. But it wasn’t enough.
The new LED court was also introduced in this game which caught a lot of attention because of its colorful reactions to the on-court play. Yet, while the spectacle on the court was fun to watch, it was Shannon Sharpe and Stephen A. Smith who owned the night.
Rising Stars Tournament: G-League Shows Out
The format for the Rising Stars remained the same this year- a tournament format with 4 teams. The coaches ended up being Pau Gasol, Jalen Rose, Tamika Catchings, and Detlef Schrempf. All well-respected and influential players from the sport.
As for the Rising Star teams, the NBA had an interesting twist on them this year. Instead of G-League players being drafted and mixed into other squads, there was a full team of just G-League players. And they actually won. After getting Team Pau in the corner early, which consisted of players like Jaime Jaquez Jr, Brandon Miller and Victor Wembenyama, the G-Leaguers were able to ride an early run to a 41-36 victory.
In the other matchup we saw Team Jalen vs Team Tamika. Benedict Mathurin ended up with 18 points and led Team Jalen to a 40-35 victory.
The finals went pretty predictably, as the NBA players got out to a quick 10-4 lead and cruised to a 26-13 win. The OKC Thunder’s Jalen Williams hit the game-winner. Benedict Mathurin ended up winning MVP as the hometown player, after hearing many MVP chants from the crowd. But it was still a win on the night for the G-League players. They showed that they are better than people may have thought, and Adam Silver has to be pretty excited about that notion.
Skills Competition: Team Pacers Win as Hometown Heroes
For the third straight year, the home team won the skills competition. Team Pacers, consisting of Tyrese Haliburton, Benedict Mathurin, and Myles Turner outlasted Team All-Stars and Team Top Picks. Team All-Stars had Scottie Barnes, Tyrese Maxey, and Trae Young. Team Top Picks had the #1 overall picks from the past 3 years- so Anthony Edwards, Paolo Banchero, and Victor Wembenyama.
However, the best and most controversial parts of the competition did not come from the final. We saw Anthony Edwards shooting left-handed, which ultimately got his team eliminated.
We also saw Scottie Barnes dribble the ball off his leg out of bounds as he nonchalantly made his way through the pylons. Tyrese Maxey then ran the wrong way around the first pylon. And then Barnes capped it off by shooting no-look half-court shots.
While the latter may not have mattered as much in hindsight, it still drew a lot of attention from the skeptics of the 2024 NBA all-star weekend. And quite frankly, it isn’t the best look.
Three-point shootout: Dame Lillard Defends Title Successfully
The three-point shootout is usually one of the better events of NBA all-star weekend. This year’s participants were Malik Beasley, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, Damian Lillard, Lauri Markkanen, Donovan Mitchell, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Trae Young. A great mix of spot up, pull up, and big man shooters. It came down to the very last shot, but in the end, Damian Lillard beat out Trae Young in the final round 26-24.
Steph vs. Sabrina: The Highlight of the Night
In the first-ever NBA vs WNBA three-point shootout, we saw the greatest shooter in NBA history vs the highest scorer for a three-point shootout in WNBA and NBA history. And it did not disappoint.
After some humble introductions, Sabrina Ionescu proceeded to catch fire making her first 7 shots. After a slow-ish end to the round, she ended with a score of 26- which tied Dame Lillard’s game-winning mark from earlier.
But it was Steph Curry who ended the night on top. After going a perfect 10/10 on both wing racks, Curry only needed 3 out of his last 5 to win. He missed his first, then made four straight to win the contest 29-26.
It was a groundbreaking event that recorded 5.4 million views while live. Overnight it ended up making 10 million impressions. In the future, we should add more WNBA and NBA players to the event. Make it a 4 vs 4 of the best shooters in each league.
Dunk Contest: Mac McClung Defends Title
In the 2024 NBA all-star weekend event that many agree has gone downhill in recent years, G-Leaguer Mac McClung ended up defending his crown against the Celtic, Jaylen Brown. While the event may not feature some stars like it did in the past, the event-winning dunk was still awesome.
McClung fully cleared Shaq and did a reverse slam that raised eyebrows everywhere. While the judges on the night were making interesting scoring decisions, McClung fully deserved his 50 for the win.
73rd NBA All-Star Game: East Defeats West 211-186
In what was by far the highest-scoring all-star game of all-time, the Eastern all-stars led by Damian Lillard’s 36 points and 11 threes took down the Western all-stars. Dame ended up winning all-star game MVP. Jaylen Brown also had 36, while the hometown kid Tyrese Haliburton added 32-6-7 with 10 threes.
For the West, Karl Anthony-Towns ended with 50 points while putting on a dunk contest of his own. Surely, Towns would’ve won MVP had the Western all-stars decided to play any defense on Sunday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 in his first all-star start.
The game ended with 168 three-pointers attempted between the two teams, an NBA all-star game record. The 168 field goals made and 289 attempts between the two is also a record. The East’s 97 threes attempted was also a record.
All in all, it wasn’t the most competitive game in all-star game history, but it did have a crazy display of shot-making.
“Obviously it wasn’t high intensity at all,” Haliburton said.
Only 14 steals (mostly from wayward passes) to go along with, incredibly, 3 blocked shots. Chalk this year’s all-star game up to another game of shootaround. It will be interesting to see if Adam Silver can make more changes to make it interesting in the coming years. This year the all-star game took many steps backward. To many it was unwatchable after the first half ended with a score of 104-89; a score that some regular season games may end with. We need to find a way to incentivize defense in the all-star game.
Click here for more NBA news.
Subscribe to Fantom’s Twitch
Subscribe to Fantom’s YouTube!
Join the Fantom Sports Discord.